So almost a year ago I started The Home Sweet Home Project. It was my aim to stop procrastinating about decorating my house and actually do it. We rent and because of that I had a tendency to not bother with decorations or actually making places feel like home as I didn’t know where we would be in 6 months or a year. It didn’t seem like a good mentality and almost a year later I can say that I’ve made a lot of really positive changes both in our home and the way that I look at things.
The day we moved in, I was so excited:
The first meal we ever had in the apartment, James got Subway and I had Okonomiyaki. Note the lack of furniture and the cardboard boxes next James which will soon be turned into furniture XD
So what was I trying to get out of this project and do I think I’ve completed it?
- To make every part of the house pretty without losing functionality.
With our budget and time allowance, we’ve done amazingly well. There are still areas which need improvements but I am really proud of the progress we’ve made so far! The house looks like a completely different place. When we moved in, I had to make our furniture out of cardboard. How times have changed!
Me putting together my cardboard furniture right after moving in. Having to cut up all of those heavy boxes really cut up my hands too:
- To spend as little money as possible.
We stuck to our budget because we bought as we found things cheaply and made most of the big things from scratch. The biggest purchase we made was a new couch for the lounge room and that was actually a gift from my Mum so I was very lucky in that area! - Regain my creativity and problem solving skills.
I feel invigorated. I lost my inspiration in some areas (mostly drawing) but I found it in others. I think that’s just the nature of inspiration though isn’t it? If we were inspired all the time it wouldn’t feel as awesome coming up with something new! - Replace all ugly things.
We’ve made some real progress on this. Most of the things which now need replacing are in the kitchen and as I have no intention of wasting things I’ll be replacing them as they wear out. - Practice decorating for our real home.
No matter where our first “real” home ends up being I know that the lessons I’ve learned here will allow me to decorate it with ease! I’m absolutely looking forward to moving there too and hopefully it will be this year! - Stop procrastinating!
I’m not completely sure I managed this one >_> I mean I’ve stopped several times while writing this post to watch Poirot over the top of my laptop… but I have gotten a lot of things done! I have worked very hard this year at making our house nice. I guess a little procrastination isn’t really a bad thing as it gives time to relax when you haven’t scheduled it. I tend to schedule everything so perhaps embracing procrastination (to a point) as my brain’s way of saying “Enough is enough!” is the right thing to do at the moment. - Surround ourselves with beauty .
I think I’ve checked this off very well! - Stop waiting and start DOING!
Well and truly DONE!
So overall I think I’ve made a pretty damn good go of this project and while I know it’s never going to be completely finished I can be comfortable at calling this finished 😀
For the next week I’ll be posting one room per day with before/afters and everything that’s happened in between. I hope you enjoy them!
